


flesh without blood

by softshocks



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural, F/F, magical misfits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2018-10-17 07:40:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10589475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softshocks/pseuds/softshocks
Summary: Mina would have felt the disturbance in large waves should it be near though it’s still there, like a misaligned paper or a slightly open door or an incomplete circle that’s a hairsbreadth away from coming full circle.Like a new presence in an already perfect ecosystem.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello friends, i am back to fill the void with SUPERNATURAL lesbians as an excuse to title this fic with my favorite [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv9YoYCKNoE) on grimes’ art angels (yo listen to the [live](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxzRGzdd1xw) too it is SO good) 
> 
> I have this planned out dw and I'll be on another longer break pretty soon so stay tuned folks

“This is hopeless.”

The dusty page of the tome is abrasive against the skin of her forehead. It’s not a rare occurrence if the text of the ink meld together as a practical joke to make its reader even more confused than they already are, but Mina knows it’s just her eyes telling her she’s tired, when the gaelic medical terms began to look like scribbles on brown paper.

Mina’s eyes sting with exhaustion. There was no way in hell she can cram this much information for Hyerim’s test tomorrow. She presses the heels of her palm to her closed eyes in a desperate attempt that they’ll be back to normal so she can jump right into studying again.

“Oh, you’re still trying?” Nayeon asks absently, preoccupied by a phone-scrolling trance. She comes to herself, briefly glancing at Mina to confirm her suspicions before falling back to her trance, most likely scrolling through twitter. Jihyo is knocked out on the floor beside her, a smaller version of the book on her face.  “Of course you’re trying. You’re Mina.”

Mina pouts. “I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean but I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Her best friend honest-to-God snorts. “Believe me, Mina, I don’t think I have a right to use that as an insult when I’m sure I’ll be scoring a negative fifty on Hyerim’s test because I could not, for the life of me, understand anything in that book.”

She rolls her eyes. Nayeon can _seriously_ be the most dramatic person on earth despite existing in the liminality of being God and human.

(Mina supposes it’s a demon trait to be dramatic. She briefly remembers Nayeon talking about _Uncle Lucifer demanding his descent from heaven be written as a magnificent fight with St. Michael._ “Completely unnecessary,” Nayeon says, “but you know. Theatrics.”) 

“You’re a demon, Nayeon. You can use telekinesis to read my mind. Or anyone else’s in the room, for that matter.” 

Nayeon looks up from her phone to fix Mina with an eye roll. “Doesn’t mean I should. Not to mention Hyerim can see right through me.”

Jihyo surprises them both by speaking, her voice muffled by the book on her face. “Nayeon? You have _morals_?”

Her best friend appears affronted before taking the book and smacking Jihyo’s face with it gently. “Just because you’re an angelus _and_ my girlfriend doesn’t mean you have moral ascendancy over me.”

Jihyo rolls on her stomach to watch Nayeon with her eyes and Mina knows immediately that she’s using her natural truth-extracting and truth-inducing nature as an angelus, one that works on everyone _except_ Nayeon who, like presently, is using her demonic glamor to counter it.

These powers were given by God and _of course_ they’re using it for the most useless things like settling relationship squabbles and healthy banter.

Mina feels the air charge around them, as it often does when Jihyo and Nayeon stare each other down like this. It doesn’t end well for a bystander, who is often Mina. It ends up with loud, rambunctious sex in this small cottage Mina lives in, situated in the middle of the forest.

When Jihyo mumbles _I’ll show you who has the moral ascendancy here_ , Mina takes it as her cue to leave, standing abruptly that the potion bottles seated on her table rattle momentarily. “I am going to leave and allow myself to be sexiled because I love both of you,” she speaks and it flows out of her mouth so easily. She blames Jihyo’s angelus nature on her momentary bluntness. “I’ll come back in two hours. Please, do not break anything.”

Jihyo gives her a sheepish grin as she nods while Nayeon laughs and says, “I don’t promise anything.”

With a sigh, Mina places her hand on the mahogany table and the shelf, feeling the energy rush from her inner center and into the skin of her palm. “ _Non mouent_.”

When she steps out of the cottage, Mina does the same to the cold stone of her home.

 _That should do the trick_ , Mina muses and chuckles at her own quip. Then she starts her two hour walk around the woods.

 

The woods have always been her favorite part of any place she’s ever been. Mina finds herself ridiculously attracted to its solitude and its tranquility, and the maps she’s been made to study fall into place, make sense, while she’s walking.

She likes these woods particularly, knows it and its residents like the back of her hand; the water nymphs on the third quadrant that love to sing to Mina, the elves from the second quadrant that hide under ant hills that greet Mina. She knows all of them.

The branches and leaves crunch underneath Mina’s boots, and it’s comforting. Her eyes don’t feel like falling off anymore, despite having reread century-old three creature care book in three nights thanks to the overwhelming pressure of being Hyerim’s best student and potential protegeé as one of the new generation of witch healers in the entirety of supernatural society.

Mina shudders at the thought more than the cold wind that breezes past her. She settles to sit on the dry rocks near a rushing brook, watching the water shimmer with the moonlight. The water is a soft whisper amidst the crickets chirping and the leaves swaying in the wind but Mina hears it anyway, revels in the tranquility her home currently cannot offer.

Inasmuch as the quiet settles over Mina she can’t help but feel the woods being… off, if that’s how she’ll describe it.

To a bystander or a witch whose senses aren’t as sharpened as a healer’s must be, it would be negligible but the odd disturbance doesn’t shake off Mina, not the slightest.

It’s very distant, considering Mina would have felt the disturbance in large waves should it be near though it’s still there, like a misaligned paper or a slightly open door or an incomplete circle that’s a hairsbreadth away from coming full circle.

Like a new presence in an already perfect ecosystem.

Mina stands when the disturbance comes closer, no longer in small waves but in large ones. It moves quick and pads through the woods, quadrant two and then quadrant three to where Mina is.

Then it stops moving.

There is eerie silence that eats at Mina, then muted, hurt panting.

It’s a creature and it’s dying.

Mina jumps to her feet and sprints to the exact location, feels it in the direction of the wind.

Under a cave in the third quadrant. It smells of blood and leaves. The heavy breathing gets fainter and fainter by the moment so Mina runs faster and finds the cave.

The strong scent of blood invades her senses, mixed with… silver?

Oh.

_Oh no._

There is a wounded dark grey wolf with a shot to its leg, hidden under the cave. The hay it lies on is soaked in its blood and in its flesh a silver bullet was embedded, glinting ominously in the moonlight.

The wolf pants, and Mina drops to her knees, rocks piercing through her jeans but she barely feels it when her hands find the wolf’s bleeding wound to pull out the silver bullet, shoving it into her pants pocket and then applying pressure to the hole to manage its bleeding. Much to her surprise, her hands are steady when keeps the blood at bay, but the wolf is bleeding internally too.

The wolf looks at her and its eyes are grey, with a human-like focus that wavers each passing moment. They are filled with fear that’s dulled by intense blood loss and Mina knows, _knows_ this wolf is a lycan; a lycan that is slowly losing consciousness. A lycan that couldn’t even fight back Mina’s unfamiliar presence. A lycan that’s dying.

Mina doesn’t have bandages or anything for a tourniquet or even gear for amputation and she needs to get this lycan to the cottage quick so Mina settles for the next best thing: her direct telepathic connection to Nayeon.

(“Why do I need an emergency line to you?” Mina snorts, mixing the colorful liquids with a drop of saliva from both of them. “I mean. I can just _call_ , you know. We’re not cavemen. We have technology.”

“In case you need a booty call,” Nayeon shrugs though it’s defensive. After all the rumors of disappearing faeries in the first quadrant, Mina knows Nayeon is worried.)

Mina gulps, screws her eyes closed and focuses her energy in finding its connection to Nayeon.

 _Nayeon_ , her consciousness calls. _Adiuva me._

Nayeon, with her love for theatrics, emerges in black smoke and is presently kneeling beside her, inspecting the scene with a grimace.

In her lace underwear.

In the middle of winter.

“What happened here?” She asks, hands already on the wolf, ready to carry it on her shoulders.

“Lycan, silver bullet,” Mina supplies, chooses not to ask about the lack of clothing. The blood dries on her hands too quickly. “Cottage. Now.”

Nayeon nods and takes them back before Mina can even blink.

 

There are so many questions on Jihyo’s (who, thankfully, is fully dressed) face when they materialize out of thin air, one that shifts from, ‘ _where the **hell** have you been’_ to ‘ _what the **fuck** is that thing on your shoulder._  

“Lycan with silver bullet,” Mina says hurriedly, following Nayeon to the table where she lay the wolf. Mina feels its vital signs faltering so she rushes to her cupboard and finds the jars of salves and salts and some bandages.

She sets it on the mahogany table and starts working.

The cleansing salve, apply generously on any liquid discharge and debris to evaporate. The clot salve, to stop the bleeding once and for all. The anaesthetic salve, spread moderately around wound.

The salt closes the .35 caliber exit wound almost completely it doesn’t need further stitches to aid in healing.

The lycan is breathing steadily, even if it’s shallow. No blood but at least no more pain. Mina scratches her nose with her forearm and realizes that her hands have not trembled once.

She touches the lycan’s grey fur around its neck gently, then comfortingly rubs it. “You’ll be okay. Let me put some herbs together and you can shift back.”

The lycan grunts, unable to move its head though grey eyes watch Mina carefully - fatigue and something akin to gratefulness replaces the fear and pain that have occupied them earlier.

Silence befalls the cottage other than the lycan’s breathing and jars clinking together as Mina skims through the contents of her cupboard.

“Blood circulation,” Mina mumbles to herself. “Cayenne, gingko biloba, ginger and. Dang. I’m out of—”

“Garlic.” Jihyo supplies, holding a jar of it in her hand before placing it on the table. “Need any help?”

Mina notices how heavy her bones feel now that the adrenaline had fallen away. On other days, she’d shake her head and say she can do it but Jihyo is worried and she’s so tired, so Mina nods and hands the other jars to her.

“This is for better blood circulation, right?” Nayeon asks, leaning over Jihyo’s shoulder. When Mina nods, she grins. “Looks like I’m not scoring negative fifty on Hyerim’s test tomorrow.”

“Negative forty-nine then?” Jihyo quips, then crushes the cayenne, the other ingredients following suit. Nayeon adds some water and Mina watches every step of its creation. It’s Mina who boils it and places it in a wooden bowl for the lycan to drink from. “I do know someone who will get perfect.”

Nayeon laughs. “God, I wonder who. Totally not the girl who just saved the life of this lycan over here.”

Mina ducks her head, mixing the liquid until it’s an ugly shade of red which is probably the same color as her cheeks. “I did what I had to do.”

“Hyerim would be so proud,” remarks Jihyo and Mina honestly laughs but feels the blush crawling up her neck each passing moment.

Rolling her eyes at her friends, Mina sets down the bowl on the table, with a wooden spoon beside it. She kneels to be eye level with the lycan. “Hey, buddy. You lost a lot of blood so your heart has to pump some more blood into your system, okay?” Mina combs her hand through grey fur. “This’ll help. It doesn’t taste nice but it will be quick.”

The lycan boofs in approval, turning its head towards Mina. “That’s a good…” she checks its underside. “Girl.”

It takes twenty minutes to feed the lycan the mixture and another thirty for it to fall asleep. Jihyo sets up some blankets and Nayeon carries the lycan without jostling the healing wound. Mina collapses on the small couch by the fireplace, a few steps away from the table, Nayeon and Jihyo following suit.

“Man, I sure feel sorry for humans working in emergency rooms,” Nayeon mutters. She’s still shirtless and Jihyo digs under her to find the shirt and toss it to Nayeon. Mina’s too tired to even be affronted about them using the couch. She also can’t be made to sterilize the damn couch after all the… activities Jihyo and Nayeon did while she was out walking.

That can wait tomorrow. The rest of the tome for tomorrow’s test remains unread for the third time.

Mina falls asleep with her head on Jihyo’s shoulder and dreams of a wolf sleeping in the midst of sunflowers.

 

-

 

“I told you, it was the nightingale branch and not the other way around,” Mina tells Sana pointedly. “Chapter 65 is an entire chapter dedicated to that herb.”

Sana snorts, pocketing her pencil. “Mina, I kiss and have sex with people to heal. I have no use for this branch of supernatural studies.”

Mina rolls her eyes and makes a mental note not to make medical visits be a walk in the park for this stubborn succubus. She opens her mouth to retort but it comes out as a gasp to hear panicked breathing and restless, frantic energy coming off in waves.

From her cottage.

The lycan must have woken up.

Mina turns to Sana. “I need to get to my cottage quick. Mind giving me a lift?”

Sana grins, in the way that she does when she’s luring in her prey. It, obviously, does not work on Mina. “Only if you kiss me after,” she replies, though she turns around and bends her knee for Mina to hop on.

The crying gets louder, and Mina hears it more than feels it now that they’ve arrived; Sana must have felt it too, setting down Mina on the ground with furrowed brows. “Do you need help?”

Waves of great sadness ebbs at Mina’s consciousness as she shakes her head. “No, thanks. I’ll be fine.” She leans in and kisses Sana on the cheek. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Anytime,” Sana laughs, then she’s gone.

Mina turns to her door, steeling herself before her hand finds the knob. “Time to find out who you are, lycan.”

The door opens to reveal a girl, naked, and curled in around herself on the blankets set for her, with her short grey hair pointing in different directions. She’s sobbing, loudly, the bullet wound jerking at her every heaved sob.

Mina’s presence alerts her, though she doesn’t recoil when Mina takes a few steps and kneels. She knows better than to touch a lycan like this, minutes after their shifting. “Calm down,” soothes Mina. “You’re in safe hands. We helped you last night, remember?”

The girl looks at her wildly but nods, movement sharp as she’s currently hyper aware after a long night. “What’s your name?” Mina starts, offering some water but the girl doesn’t take it.

“Yoo Jeongyeon,” the girl croaks. “And my—oh my god, my sister—oh, _oh no_ —”

She begins to be restless again, moving aimlessly and squirming underneath the sheets. “What about your sister?” asks Mina, the panic that Jeongyeon emits seeps through her. “Where is she?”

Jeongyeon looks around wildly, in sheer panic and desperation, as if she were looking for a way out. “She—oh my god, no. No. _No._ ” She tries to stand but fails, thanks to the gunshot to the stomach. “They—oh god— _they_ … no, please no—”

“What happened?”

Jeongyeon, not for the first time, fixes her grey eyes on Mina. They’re filled with fear once more and it penetrates through Mina’s soul.

“They… they took my sister.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They aren’t a bunch of ragtag misfits but they are misfits who found a family in each other, and a distressed werewolf looking for her sister fits the bill to be a member. 
> 
> or
> 
> Teenage supernatural beings trying so hard to stay on track.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for being mia, school just finished but i'm back to writing for my unfinished fics and collab-ing with izzy (with a minayeon) and kathryn (with a supercorp)
> 
> this became the campy supernatural au I didn't want it to become but w/e
> 
> aaanyway here's what you missed on glee!

 

“They… they took my sister.”

Mina’s brows furrow, crouching down to Jeongyeon with her hands held up when the naked lycan bares her fangs to Mina.

“Calm down,” she soothes, channeling her most gentle tone, one of which is barely above a whisper. She uses a miniscule bit of her energy for the bare minimum of glamor, just enough for Jeongyeon to stop snarling. “There… there we go, Jeongyeon. Can I ask who’s _they_? The ones who took your sister?”

“I—I don’t know,” Jeongyeon stammers, swallows. “They wanted—I think they wanted me but they t-took her and they—oh my god, _what are they going to do with her_ —”

Mina takes the risk of holding the girl by the shoulder to avoid stressing out the wound. “We’ll help you find your sister but you have to calm down,” she chastises and Jeongyeon, despite her wild eyes, is chastened. “You need to tell us what happened so we can help you, alright? Can you do that for me?”

Jeongyeon’s slowed down heart rate is a telling sign of calming down, and Mina feels the aura of the cottage simmer down to a less tense environment. “Y-yeah, I can do that.” A few more moments and Jeongyeon is calm enough to speak, though she remains worried and Mina can’t blame her for that. “Can I get some water? And some, uh,” she looks down at her naked body, half hidden by a blanket. Mina follows her line of sight instinctively, sees broad shoulders and muscular arms marred with white scars and—

Mina’s already rising to her feet, shaking off the sight of the lycan while scolding herself for doing so. “Of course.” She fetches the water first, handing Jeongyeon a large glass before moving to her room to fish out some sweatpants and an oversized football shirt for Jeongyeon who fits right into it, as Mina projected.

The lycan is… ridiculously attractive. Jeongyeon is tall, lean. Her grey hair matches her grey eyes and Mina recalls the wolf’s fur is the exact shade of Jeongyeon’s hair. The shirt hangs loose around her but it frames her shoulders perfectly and—

She should stop staring.

There is a crisis at hand and Mina, of course, should be focusing on said crisis involving this attractive lycan.

Mina hands Jeongyeon another glass of water, and Jeongyeon smiles slightly before taking it. “So what happened last night?” She begins. If they were to find Jeongyeon’s sister, recalling last night’s events would be a good place to start. “I don’t recognize you as a part of these woods.”

“My sister and I were hunting just on the outskirts of these woods,” explains Jeongyeon. “Just enough for one night.”

“Why were there only two of you?” Mina’s brows furrow in confusion. “Don’t you have a—”

“Pack? No, no.” Jeongyeon smiles, though it’s somber. “Just me and my sister. She isn’t even my _sister_ -sister. My… first pack left me and I was alone until I found Chaeyoung who was alone after being bitten.”

“I’m so sorry. It must be lonely.”

The lycan takes a sip of water. “It used to be, but I have Chaeyoung.” It’s said with much fondness that the ache of loss comes right after it is debilitating. “I have to find her.”

Jeongyeon sits up immediately and then winces— _growls_ , with her fangs out—when the wound is stressed from the action. Mina nudges at her shoulders once more, the skin borderline hot under her fingertips. “Not in this state you are,” Mina tells her. It dawns upon her how harsh she must sound, keeping Jeongyeon from her sister—the only family this lycan has. She’d probably act the same way, should something happen to Nayeon, Jihyo, Sana, Momo, Dahyun and Tzuyu.

“We’ll help you find her, don’t worry,” Mina chews on her bottom lip, squeezes Jeongyeon’s shoulder comfortingly.

Jeongyeon looks around, confused. She’s on the brink of tears and Mina’s heart hurts for her. “Who’s _we_?”

Mina thinks of the six girls in her life, those who guard this forest with her—have been guarding it, longer than she’s ever been here on earth. They’d found her, years ago, as a little girl who’d been found on the side of the road, crying near a car wreck. She thinks of Nayeon, who’d saved her from the car wreck. She thinks of Jihyo, who’d healed the gashes the metal left on her skin. She thinks of Momo and her gold dust and Dahyun as a small rabbit, leading her through the forest. Sana and Tzuyu come much later, though it didn’t mean they meant less to Mina than the others.

“My family,” says Mina simply. Their connection ran deeper than that, though there is no human word enough to encapsulate the bond the seven of them share. “We’ll help you find your sister.”

Jeongyeon face shifts from relief to suspicion, in a span of a few seconds. “Why? I—I don’t even _know_ your name!”

She extends a hand, one of which Jeongyeon eyes curiously. “Myoui Mina. I’m one of the woods’ healers. My family and I, we’re… not human. Just like you.”

“Why does that make you any better?” Jeongyeon mutters, curling away from Mina’s hand. The lycan did have a point; there were many people who used magic and their superhuman abilities for evil.

If Nayeon would have been here, she would have bit out a ‘ _you wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for us’._ But she isn’t Nayeon so Mina settles for a gentler version of that: “We tried our best to keep you alive and we aren’t about to stop now; that goes for your sister, too.”

Jeongyeon appears thoroughly chastised, ducking her head slightly. “Thank you. For saving me,” she says, then she looks up and stares Mina with single-minded determination. “I’m forever in your debt. The least I can give you my trust and my loyal protection.”

Mina knows how this goes. Mina knows that when a lycan offers themself as a protector, there is no way to turn it down. “Please, don’t—”

“I want to,” says Jeongyeon, firmly. Her green eyes bore into Mina with the heaviness of an oath, as if Jeongyeon speaking the words were a ceremony to commemorate her promise. “You saved me. Your life is now my priority.”

Mina finds there is no room for argument and that she now has a lycan protector. She ignores the warmth in her chest in the glint of Jeongyeon’s grey eyes, who focuses on Mina in a way no human ever can. “Alright,” she gives her a reassuring smile while taking in the devotion and loyalty that Jeongyeon has handed to her freely. “If the people who took your sister are dangerous, you might come in handy.”

“You really are going to help me,” Jeongyeon muses out loud, and Mina nods.

“I gave you my word and you gave me your protection. I like to keep my end of the bargain,” Mina chuckles. “Us witches would rather not have debts to someone else.”

The lycan smiles, a wolfy grin with her fangs slightly showing and Mina wills her heart to stop beating so fast.

She isn’t scared of Jeongyeon.

Jeongyeon is attractive.

Oh no.

 

-

 

Mina has been in countless uncomfortable situations, too many for her to even remember - to the point that sometimes she _knows_ a situation is uncomfortable but has learned to accept that many of her encounters _will_ be awkward, thus making it not as awkward as it really is.

The world has always been kinder to extroverts.

Nothing, however, is going to prepare her for the tension in the room when Nayeon and Jihyo walk into the cottage and see Jeongyeon, in her human form, sitting and talking quietly with Mina.

It’s Nayeon who starts it. It’s Nayeon who’s the root of it. It’s Nayeon who stops dead in her tracks taking in the sight of Jeongyeon, who watches her with large eyes.

“Well. This is awkward.” Nayeon laughs, somewhat uncomfortably.

Jihyo turns to her, then Jeongyeon, then Nayeon again. “What? Do you guys know each other?”

Nayeon and Jeongyeon hesitate, and the silence sits heavy and ready to be sliced with a butcher’s knife. The lycan suddenly emits more warmth that she already does, despite Mina sitting right beside her. “I…” Jeongyeon starts, then there’s a glazed look in her eyes that looks familiar, in the way Mina knows Jihyo is using her _veritas_ -angel… stuff. “We had a one night stand. Years ago. She was supposed to call me but it didn’t happen.”

Of _course_ Nayeon has slept with a lycan. Of _course_ they cross paths. Of _course_ Mina is stuck in the middle of the uncomfortable air between Nayeon, Jihyo and Jeongyeon.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again so I didn’t call back.” Nayeon shrugs, obviously playing it as nonchelance but she is trying so hard to make it as cool as possible, under the watchful gazes of the three of them. “I’d like to stop this inquiry into my sex life, if we may.”  

Jihyo doesn’t seem to want to drop it but she does, and Mina feels just about as uncomfortable as Jeongyeon, so they decide to drop it after Nayeon asks what brings her to the woods.

“I got shot and people I don’t know took my sister,” the lycan says.

Nayeon softens visibly at that. “That kid by the pinball machines that night?”

“That’s her, yeah.”

Jihyo, too, has warmed up to Jeongyeon. “Well, if we’re going to help you find her then we need to know more than that.”

Mina’s heart swells, at the thought of her friends ready to help this stranger, a newcomer to the forest. She assumes it’s the fact that they were all misfits, lost and afraid at one point after being abandoned.

“Momo and the other faeries patrolling that night should probably have an idea about what happened, enough to help us track the whereabouts of the assailants.” Mina says, then she turns to Jeongyeon. “Can you shift already? I know post-silver bullet condition involves not being able to, not until all the silver in the blood is drained out.”

Jeongyeon shrugs, looking at Mina earnestly. “I honestly don’t know.”

Nayeon is already on her feet, by the door. She tilts her head towards the exit. “Let’s find out, then.”

The clearing is too far away and exposed, so the environment outside Mina’s cottage will work just fine. There’s enough space to run around, should Jeongyeon need some to shift.

“You alright?” asks Mina, when Jeongyeon takes deep breaths beside her.

“Yeah,” Jeongyeon exhales, one last time, shooting Mina a small, toothy grin before sprinting off with inhuman speed—slower than Nayeon, but faster than any other magical creature Mina has ever seen—before leaping, her human form ready to transform and soften the landing—

A very human Jeongyeon crashes into the bushes. Nayeon laughs, Jihyo looks ready to follow suit and Mina rushes to the bushes, where Jeongyeon sat with twigs and leaves in her grey hair. She looks incredibly disheveled, a tiny growl forming on her mouth and it’s extremely adorable.

“I guess that answers our questions about the silver in your blood,” says Jihyo, as Mina offers a hand for the lycan to take. When Jeongyeon stands up, she shakes the leaves off her hair, similar to the way dogs shake off water.

“Yeah? No shit, angel,” Jeongyeon mutters bitterly, visibly frustrated with not being able to shift. Her heartrate is spiked with anger.

“We know someone who can take it out,” Mina says, soothingly. A hand finds its way to Jeongyeon’s forearm and Jeongyeon softens at the contact; it takes Mina a few moments that she uses no glamor at all to let the anger in Jeongyeon melt.

“Okay,” is all Jeongyeon says to her and they set off to find the wood’s resident vampire.

 

“No—goodness, no,” Tzuyu spits, barely even looking at Jeongyeon. “Absolutely not.”

“Count Dratzula, come on, the lycan needs to find her sister,” Nayeon whines, and Tzuyu’s nostrils flare at the moniker, obviously not appreciating it.

Tzuyu softens at the mention of the sister, though she tilts her chin upward. “I don’t care. Lycan blood tastes like sewer water, to me. I’m not drinking from a mutt.”

Jeongyeon snaps right before Mina can even think of holding her back. “Who are you calling a mutt?” The lycan warns, dangerously. She pads to where Tzuyu is until they’re eye to eye, with barely an inch between them. She’s breathing hard, angry, her pupils dilated that the grey is nearly black. “Do you think I like any part of this, with my sister missing, not being able to shift, _and_ having some _leech_ near me?”

Tzuyu is unfazed, despite Jeongyeon looking ready to rip her to pieces. “Must I remind you that if you want to be able to shift back, I’ll be doing you a huge favor by drinking your dirty blood?”

Jeongyeon falters a bit, though she doesn’t back down. It’s only when Mina touches Jeongyeon’s elbow, then grasping it gently, that all the tension and anger melt from the lycan - very much so, that Mina feels it coming off of her in waves. “Tzuyu, please,” Mina pleads, knowing that if Tzuyu hadn’t appreciated Nayeon’s attempts or has been head to head with Jeongyeon, she’ll listen to Mina.

Tzuyu backs down, too, but with hesitance. “What do I get in return?” She says, not quite looking at any of them; defeat has never been her strong suit.

Jihyo, the angel she is (quite literally, at that), puts up her phone - a conversation with Sana on the screen. “Sana said you can drink from her whenever you wanted to.”

Ah, Tzuyu loved Sana’s blood a _lot_.

The vampire takes a bucket from underneath the sink of the extremely modern kitchen in Tzuyu’s extremely modern home in the middle of the forest.

(“It looks like the Cullen house from Twi—”

Tzuyu’s eyes narrow, a sharp glare directed towards Nayeon. “Continue that sentence and you die.”)

“Sit,” Tzuyu commands.

“I’m not taking orders from you.”

The vampire sighs, massaging the bridge of her nose. “Look, if you want to shift back, coming to my house to demand my help then the least you can do is let me do it my way. Now, _sit_.”

“Make her shake your hand or roll over—ow,” Nayeon jokes though it’s interrupted by an elbow to her side, care of Jihyo.

Mina slips beside Tzuyu, handing her a tiny jar of lavender. “Here, so it won’t be as bad as the last time I asked you to do this.”

Her friend shudders at the memory. Lycan blood has never grown on her, not the slightest. She does, however, offer Mina a small smile before taking the jar and fishing out the plant, placing it under her nose.

Jeongyeon sits in front of Tzuyu, the vampire’s hand holding her head to lean it to the side, harsher than necessary. “Ready when you are,” says Tzuyu, with the lavender plant under her nose.

Jeongyeon nods twice before Tzuyu bends to bite at her neck, fangs puncturing and digging into the lycan’s flesh while Tzuyu sucks, inhales the scent of the lavender, for nearly twenty seconds and it goes on until it’s over, with Tzuyu spitting the silver-tained lycan blood into the bucket and Jeongyeon looking slightly dazed.

Mina has some mint branches in her purse, packed before the visit and she hands it to Tzuyu who chews it the wood after rinsing her mouth, distaste and disgust plastered on her face. “Jihyo will tell Sana you need her,” Mina says quietly, watching Tzuyu desperately erase the taste of Jeongyeon’s blood from her tongue and memory. She leans in and presses a kiss to Tzuyu’s chin and wipes at the blood dripping down her chin. “Thanks so much.”

“No problem,” is all Tzuyu says, before they leave to take a very wobbly Jeongyeon back to Mina’s cottage.

 

“This cayenne thing tasted better while I was dying from a gunshot,” Jeongyeon tells her, though it’s with a smile that seems much, much lighter than before. Gauze is taped to the side of her neck and she looks cozy, in the way Mina’s coat is wrapped around her body. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Mina smiles, taking a seat beside Jeongyeon as they watch the brook water trip on stones. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better. Like I can shift when I have more blood in my body.”

Silence blankets over them, just the sound of the water running and the leaves rustling, before Jeongyeon speaks again. “I’m sorry for that weird standoff earlier, with the vampire. It’s cliché our clans don’t get along but it’s for good reason.”

Mina knows - thousands of years of clan wars between the lycans and vampires weren’t just tropes in campy supernatural movies. “It’s alright. Tzuyu can be a little… mean, when she wants to be. So I apologize for that.”

“It’s okay. Now I see how you guys are each other’s families,” Jeongyeon says with a small smile as she curls into herself. “It’s nice.”

 _She hasn’t even seen the whole bunch yet,_ Mina thinks fondly. If finding her sister is going to take much longer, Jeongyeon will have the chance to meet the rest of them and their not-so ragtag bunch of misfits.

A part of Mina wants Jeongyeon to stay. They aren’t a bunch of ragtag misfits but they _are_ misfits, and a distressed werewolf looking for her sister fits the bill to be a member.

The younger lycan be a part of them, should they find her. It must be lonely, just the two of them and Mina wants more than anything for their family to grow, as much as she wants hers to do so, too.

“Are you cold?” Jeongyeon asks when Mina shivers. “Come closer under the blanket. I’m like a furnace.”

_Temperatures higher than humans to survive in blistering cold climates._

Mina shuffles closer and Jeongyeon puts an arm around her, pulling their bodies closer. She was, indeed, warm and Mina feels… safe.

“Being my protector already, huh,” teases Mina. “It takes more than a cold to kill me, Jeongyeon.”

The lycan actually _blushes_ , when only a few hours before she’d been ready to tear Tzuyu into bits. “Yeah, well. I promised to protect you, even from the most ridiculous things.”

It’s another lull, a comfortable one, their breaths condensing into one large cloud.

Of course, it’s Nayeon who shatters the silence. “Hey, Snoopy. I’ve just received word that Momo and the other faeries have found the trail that can help us find Chaeyoung.”

It has completely slipped Mina’s mind that Nayeon has met Jeongyeon and, consequently, Jeongyeon’s sister, Chaeyoung.

Her best friend, the demon she is, eyes her in that _I Know Something You Don’t_ way when she thinks she does, even if she _doesn’t_ ; her only intention is to mess with Mina.

Jeongyeon stands, then suddenly the cold air embraces Mina instead of the warmth that emanated from the lycan. She swallows the disappointment, but quickly it’s replaced with relief at the possibility of tracking down Chaeyoung. The lycan extends a hand to help Mina up. “That’s great!” She turns to Mina. “Can I shift already? When we get there?”

Mina checks her wrist for her watch. It’s been two hours and this is Jeongyeon’s second cup of the cayenne mixture. Lycan biology is seven times more enhanced than the average, healthy human. “Go ahead.”

Jeongyeon envelopes her in a tight hug, not quite crushing but enough to tell her she’s ecstatic and grateful. “Thanks, doc.”

Mina chuckles at that. “I’m not really a doctor, but I can get behind that.” She nods to Nayeon, whose suspicious look is unashamed and blatant. “Shall we?”

 

“These tracks are still fresh.”

Jihyo touches it, the leaves fluttering softly beneath her fingertips. “I think you can catch the culprits if you try hard enough.”

“What did you say the looked like again, Momo?” Nayeon says to the faerie, perched on Jeongyeon’s shoulder, who has taken a liking for the lycan. It surprises all of them, considering it takes some time for Momo to warm up to people these days, especially when she’s tired from keeping a close eye on the forest.

“Definitely human,” says Momo, who yawns and tugs on a few strands of Jeongyeon’s short, grey hair. “They were at the outskirts of the woods so we couldn’t do much… it didn’t help it happened all too quickly. One moment there was screaming and then a gunshot and then,” she tugs at the strands in her tiny, glowing hand. “She was hurt. The woods told Mina even without me asking Her to.”

Jeongyeon grins, canines sharper than a normal person’s, but it’s really… adorable. And handsome. Even if it’s not directed at Mina, she melts a little.

 _Get a hold of yourself, Mina_ , she scolds herself.

“So it was you who told doc over there I needed help?” Jeongyeon tells Momo. “Thank you. I don’t think I’d be alive if you didn’t help Mina find me.”

Momo ducks her head bashfully, a truly adorable sight if Mina says so herself. “No problem.” The faerie looks up to the sky, to the last few vestiges of sunlight passing through the tree leaves. “I have to go, but I’ll see what I can find about this and if the other woods know about it. Nice meeting you!” Tiny arms find its way around Jeongyeon’s neck in a hug, then kissing them all on the cheek before flying off with a soft pitter patter of her wings.

“She’s really adorable. I think she and my sister will get along.” Jeongyeon chuckles, flattening the strands of hair Momo was clinging to. She then turns to Mina, the grin spreading wider. “Can I shift now?”

The unbridled happiness matches Jeongyeon, Mina realizes. She finds herself grinning back, nodding. “Knock yourself out, Jeongyeon.”

Then Jeongyeon sprints, dashing off with superhuman speed that can make Sana and Nayeon have a run for their money. Cold air dances on Mina’s cheeks, blowing past her hair.

The books told her that lycan transformations contain various elements of glamor, mesmerizing its viewers whom the lycan has to trust.

Watching Jeongyeon shift was an entirely different experience.

It starts when Jeongyeon leaps from the highest rock within their vicinity, her face shifts with the rest of her body even faster than Mina can blink. The grey hair turns into grey fur and oh, the eyes. A wolf’s eyes, but just as colorless and piercing as Jeongyeon’s human form.

The wolf is larger than the one Mina remembers the night before. This one stands tall, majestic, with its nuzzle held up in the air with pride. The one last night was dying and in pain but this… was a pack leader.

Mina finds herself face to face with Jeongyeon, while Nayeon and Jihyo watch in awe. The wolf nearly towers over her, but it’s not meant to be threatening at all. Jeongyeon huffs, the war air hitting Mina’s face and the same shade of grey eyes watch her closely.

Her hand is surprisingly steady when she reaches out, touches Jeongyeon’s muzzle. The wolf leans into her touch instantly, grey fur sifting through Mina’s fingers at the action. The wolf is even warmer than the human, Mina muses, as Jeongyeon huffs and pushes her nuzzle even further into Mina’s hand.

“Your fur is really soft,” mumbles Mina, chuckling when Jeongyeon’s head follows her hand when she pulls away. The moment is tranquil, almost sacred, as the books told her seeing a lycan shift for the first time.

It’s ruined by Nayeon, because of course it’s ruined by Nayeon.

“As much as we enjoy this Twilight-esque scene mirroring pretty much that scene in Eclipse. Or Breaking Dawn. Or whatever,” she says, walking towards the fresh foot prints. “Chaeyoung is in need of finding.”

Jeongyeon’s ears perk up at the mention of her sister. She pads down to where Nayeon’s knelt down with Jihyo, inspecting the prints that halt by the body of water, a small distance away from Mina’s cottage.

It’s a moment of tense silence, watching Jeongyeon lower her muzzle to the ground, sniffing the tracks.

Her ears perk up, giant head turning sharply, pointing to the north. “You know where they went?” Mina asks, hand touching Jeongyeon’s fur.

The wolf looks at her, seemingly answering her question. Nayeon pulls Mina closer to her, getting her to jump on her back. “Okay. Lead the way.”

Jeongyeon does, sprinting past the woods. She’s fast, faster than Sana, but not as fast as Jihyo and Nayeon, so Nayeon lags back quite a bit.

Mina’s heads spins, when they stop, as it usually does when Nayeon runs carelessly.

They’re at the very corner of the woods, sparse trees and an iron railing, separating the woods and the road leading to the city, built on the high ground, the large cliff on the other side of the road another way to the city.

Jeongyeon’s muzzle points upwards. “They’re in the city?” asks Jihyo, following Jeongyeon’s line of sight. “We can go up if you can shift back.”

Nayeon starts to move, hand touching the steel to jump over it. “We should go.”

Mina stops her, a hand fisting into Nayeon’s shirt. “We _shouldn’t_ , if she doesn’t have any clothes on when she shifts back.” She turns to Jihyo. “But we can.”

“I can fly three people up to the clearing before the cliff fence.”

They don’t notice Nayeon’s gone until she materializes beside them one moment, shoving clothes into Mina’s hands on another. She turns to Jeongyeon, who was watching Mina and Jihyo talk. “Shift back so we can go get the bastards that took your sister.”

Jeongyeon understands, then in the blink of an eye, she’s a naked human grasping for the clothes in Mina’s arms.

Mina looks up, Jihyo as well. Nayeon stares because of course she does.

“Can you track scents as a human? You can’t really shift where other people can see you.”

Mina looks down to see Jeongyeon tucking a very fitting dress shirt into her dress pants, sporting leather shoes. “A little. It’s not as sharp as my lycan form but I think we’ll manage.” Jeongyeon observes her clothes. “Wow, these are really nice. Are they yours, Mina?”

Oh. She’s so handsome. Mina can’t stop looking. She opens her mouth to respond though nothing comes out.

Jeongyeon lifts her head to look at Mina, prompting a response. Clearing her throat, Mina averts her eyes. “Uh. Very nice. Yes.”

The lycan laughs a little, a wonderful sound. “Are these yours?”

Nayeon rolls her eyes. “No, I stole them from Uniqlo. You look good. Holy shit.”

Mina still can’t talk, a blush burning her neck, so it’s Jihyo who does the honor of getting them back on track. She mutters something in latin, looping her arms around the three girls. “Your lesbian drama can wait, we have to find your sister.” She chastises, with a small smile in the way Jihyo can only does. “Hang on.”

It has always been a majestic sight to see Jihyo’s wings unfold, it glows so brightly - almost enough to gather notice from passing cars, though they’re hidden in the woods that are made to hide such activities. So bright, the three of them stand back and shield their eyes. Her wings extend, stretching, white feathers ruffling in the wind the transformation creates.

It’s such a beautiful sight, a tear slips down Mina’s cheek. Nayeon cries a little more. Jeongyeon, however, cries - having experiences an angelus’ transformation for the first time, Mina assumes.

_Angelus transformation. Bright, truthful. Audience may be subject to strong emotions._

The light dims down, finally, and despite the lack of brightness, Jihyo is still positively glowing.

“You doing that makes me want to do sinful things to you,” Nayeon muses absently, in one of those times that the truthfulness around Jihyo has an effect on her.

Jeongyeon turns to Mina, cheeks ruddy with tear streaks. “I really think you’re beautiful. Out of this world.”

It’s Jihyo’s angelus nature radius that makes Mina speak against her will. “I think you’re beautiful too.” She turns to Nayeon. “And I was the one who broke Sana’s toaster.”

“You what—” Nayeon snaps out of her reverie, though Jihyo tightens her grip around them and shoots to the sky, her angel wings allowing them to soar towards the cliff, and above the fences.

The wind is cold, but Mina is pressed against Jeongyeon’s warm body with the way Jihyo holds them. They land seamlessly, though Nayeon shoves Mina a little, with a muttered: “you’ll pay for the wrath I suffered with Sana’s toaster”.

“Are you okay?” Jeongyeon holds Mina gently by the shoulders, concern coloring her grey eyes.

“Fine. The toaster thing is just going to haunt me until the day I die, probably,” Mina offers. “Thanks for asking. Thanks for saying I’m beautiful, too. Out of this world.”

Jeongyeon blushes, scratching the back of her neck, as they start walking towards the hustle and bustle of the city. “I mean it, though.” She looks away and tilts her chin, takes a whiff of the air. “I can still track the scent we found in the woods.”

Jihyo nods, her wings folding into her back. “Lead the way.”

The hustle and bustle of the city is still alive, despite the late hour.

It’s going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh idk what I think of this chapter but i promise the next one will be better


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hi, we have a pet emergency. We need collars… for, uh, our... pets. Yep. Our pets.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I have been MIA because school and life were crazy. Anyway i’m loving all the positive feedback! I didn’t think people would like this fic so much but they do :) Looks like we’re all sluts for angel!jihyo and demon!nayeon 
> 
> Pardon errors and also if it’s bad because this is the first time I wrote fics in like a year :(((( 
> 
> Aaaanyway here’s what you missed on glee:

There’s a rumbling stomach that interrupts them when they walk into the city heights, and it’s from Jeongyeon who ducks her head bashfully after being suprisingly quiet and pensive for the past few minutes.

“You okay, Snoopy?” asks Nayeon, who is clinging to Jihyo.

“Yeah. The last time I was in the city was two years ago, when I met Nayeon at a bar before that. I’m sparsely around humans,” the rumbling makes itself known again.

“And you’re hungry,” Jihyo chuckles, nodding towards the wet market a few blocks away. “Let’s get you some quick grub before we find your sister.”

 

They buy Jeongyeon a raw porterhouse steak and hides it in a paper bag so she can bite off large chunks without looking odd. “So what have you been doing those two years you weren’t around humans?” Asks Mina, seriously enjoying seeing Jeongyeon trying to be discreet in scarfing down her food.

There’s blood staining her teeth but Mina opts to not point it out. “I’ve been helping Chaeyoung learn to be a wolf, since she’s newly turned. Some rouge bit her while she was out walking home from this art thing, and then woke up rabid until I found her and cleaned her wounds.” Jeongyeon crumples the paper bag while cleaning her teeth behind her closed mouth, then turns back to Mina. Her fangs have receded, now just some slightly pointed incisors are in place. “Took a lot of time. And patience.”

“You and Chaeyoung seem very close.” Jihyo notes, leading them out of the wet market, out of the crowds of people. The street they walk into is dark, but Mina can see everything even in the darkness and she’s sure the rest of them do so as well.

“She’s the only person I have,” Jeongyeon says somberly. “I’ve lost everything when I lost my first pack. I don’t want to lose her, too.”

It resonates with Mina, remembering vividly the day her parents died, and the way she feels so fiercely for these creatures in her life now.

“So what are you waiting for?” Nayeon prompts. “Think you can track your sister from here?”

Jeongyeon exhales. “One way to find out.” She inhales, closing her eyes to focus, but when they flutter open, they’re bright yellow, fear and anger and confusion living in them.

“She’s here,” the lycan says shakily, carefully, controlled but begging to break. Mina thinks to lay a gentle hand on her to calm her down, but thinks against it instead. “I don’t know where she is, but she’s here and she’s afraid and—”

“Come on,” Nayeon, however, shakes Jeongyeon’s shoulders, earning her a scowl and a low growl. “Track her. Let’s go get her.”

-

“We’re close,” Jeongyeon announces, after following the trail for roughly around twenty minutes. They’ve combed through the residential areas, then the marketplace, until the lycan leads them to the business district. “We’re here, it’s so strong,” she says, inhaling a bit more. “We’re close.”

“Do you have an idea where?” asks Mina, laying a soothing hand on Jeongyeon’s shoulder. Her powers, however, are useless against the quiet rage that boils underneath Jeongyeon’s skin. Jeongyeon doesn’t reply, only leads them through the path and stopping right in front of the building, towards the end of the street.

“Here,” Jeongyeon says, shakily, her fists clenched into tight balls and Mina  _knows_  she’s a hair's breadth away from shifting. “This is the place.”

“A pet shop?” Jihyo looks up at the building. “Why’d your sister be here?”

“I don’t know but I’m going to find out,” Jeongyeon threatens, her shoulders taught, ready to barge into the glass door of the pet shop. She’s shaking with fear and anger and it rubs off on Mina.

Just as Jeongyeon’s claws start growing, ready to shift, Mina feels the presence of two men before any of them could see, and Nayeon pulls all of them down to duck. Jeongyeon must have known as well, and announces they’re armed. She could most likely smell the gunpowder, but Mina feels the echo of pain inflicted by these weapons. “Stay here, I’ll go get her alone.”

Jihyo pulls her back down, before Jeongyeon could stand up. “No. It’s too dangerous.”

The lycan’s nostrils flare. “Let go of me, angelus.”

“I’d usually condone charging aimlessly and risking getting yourself killed, Snoopy,” Nayeon says, trying to get a look past the window. “But if you charge like an idiot inside, they can kill your sister as well as you and we’ll be watching the entire time because—”

“Demon, if you call me ‘Snoopy’ one more time—”

Mina feels an impending headache coming on, and decides to take it into her hand. “Stop!” She exclaims, enough to get the three girls to cease their bickering but not enough to blow their very thin cover. They stare at her, wide-eyed but receptive. “I have an idea.”

 

“Are we all good?” Jihyo asks.

Jeongyeon’s still seething, not having calmed down in the past minutes, but she nods.

“Stick to the plan,” Mina says, then turns to Nayeon. “No spontaneous tricks or murders.”

The demon rolls her eyes. “Sticking to the plan meant sticking to stereotypes as well, Myoui? I know I’m a demon but I’d rather _not_  play a temptress.” Nayeon inspects her nails. “I’m progressive and wish to escape these traditional roles created for the male gaze.”

Jihyo shoves her girlfriend a bit. “Oh will you  _shut up_. Use your dumb glamor for at least one good thing, that isn’t trying to one-up me or getting Momo to do something for you.”

“If you guys are done verbally jousting, Jeongyeon and I will go around back and actually try to get things done,” says Mina. “Let’s keep contact. We’ll let you know how many people are inside.”

“Be safe,” Jihyo tells them. They all nod in acknowledgment.

Then Jeongyeon and Mina walk into the alley leading to the back of the building, just when the glass door opened after Jihyo knocks, followed by Nayeon’s: “ _Hi, we have a pet emergency. We need collars… for, uh, our... pets. Yep. Our pets.”_

 

There are four men, armed but not protected with gear, around the back and a dirty, white 4x4 truck parked. Mina tells Nayeon so, or rather  _thinks_  it and she knows Nayeon has heard her.

“I know what you’re thinking, Jeongyeon,” Mina whispers, her pulse throbbing painfully in her neck. “You can’t kill them. They’re armed.”

Jeongyeon huffs quietly but agrees. “They’re probably the ones that shot me. I can  _feel_  the silver in their guns.”

Mina looks up at the building. It’s not cement, and made of bricks that could be climbable. “Do you think you can scale this?”

When Jeongyeon’s claws start growing, she turns around and looks back at Mina, and Mina scolds herself for being slightly distracted by how handsome Jeongyeon is like this. “Hop on.”

She does so, her arms around Jeongyeon’s with Jeongyeon’s arms reaching back to secure Mina’s legs around her. She’s very warm, and Mina’s feeling very warm as well but she blames it on the adrenaline. “Hang on tight.” Then she begins climbing.

 

The roof has an opening to inside, when they land on the flat pavement of the building’s top. Jeongyeon looks barely winded, moving closer to the door, ready to kick it down but Mina stops her. “Don’t, it’ll make too much noise. Allow me.” Mina touches the door, focuses to her fingertips, and whispers, “ _Reserare._ ”

It unlocks quietly. “Wow,” Jeongyeon whispers in awe, and Mina  _tries_  to stop blushing a deep red and she thinks she’s doing okay. 

 _Are you guys okay?_ Thinks Mina, as she and Jeongyeon descend the stairs as quietly as possible.

 _Yes,_   _the four blockheads here are completely enamored with Jihyo and me,_  Nayeon responds,  _and I think Jihyo is super into the “emergency” collar we bought for “our pet”._

Mina waves her off in her head, and pulls a disgusted face. “Something wrong?” Jeongyeon asks.

“No, everything is fine. I don’t want to know what’s going on downstairs.” It’s enough to make Jeongyeon pull a face as well. “Is Chaeyoung really here?”

The lycan nods furiously. “She’s here. She’s afraid and trapped. Probably in the floor below this one.” Jeongyeon snarls, “if they lay another finger on her, they’ll regret it.”

They take a few steps down the staircase, before Jeongyeon stops. “Wait. There are sleeping dogs on that floor. They’ll smell us and wake up and alert others that we’re here. Do you have something that’ll stop it?”

Mina racks her brain for an incantation before walking down a few steps, then she touches the wall and feels the rush in her fingertips. “ _Animalium, somnum penitus_ ,” she mutters, then she looks to Jeongyeon. “I think we’re good.”

There are still remnants of Jeongyeon’s temper lingering in her overall existence, but she flashes Mina a disarming smile. “That’s awesome. I’m never going to get tired of seeing that.”

Mina doesn’t say anything, just feels the flush of her neck which she is  _sure_  Jeongyeon senses, one way or another. She cocks her head to the end of the staircase, Jeongyeon leads the way, and the cats and dogs with cones attached to their necks and IVs stuck to their paws remain deep in sleep.

 

They stalk quietly down the dark, spiral staircase leading to the ground floor of the shop.

From where they are, Mina sees only one part of the shop lit with a harsh fluorescent light: the grooming area.

Mina holds her breath, holds on to Jeongyeon, who is breathing shallowly as well. Even when Mina isn’t inhaling, she  _feels_  the pain and the fear and the anguish that filled each of her senses. It manifests as tears, and she doesn’t even know she’s crying until her vision of Jeongyeon blurs.

Jeongyeon, too, is crying, biting her own hand until it bleeds.

Nothing prepares Mina for the sight of a lycan, with coffee fur, laid on the table, slightly bleeding but breathing shallowly. Its eyes were crying, tired, resigned to its fate.

Mina clutches onto Jeongyeon’s arm, covering her mouth with her own hand. A man emerges from the room, in scrubs, holding steel forceps, and Chaeyoung’s eyes watch it slowly before they land on the two of them.

Chaeyoung starts moving violently, trying to escape, calling for help - whimpering and yelping, and that’s the final straw for Jeongyeon to sprint to the landing.

The man looks behind them, to the disturbance, following Chaeyoung’s line of sight, and produces a gun from his scrubs in panic, then tries to shoot at a livid, half-shifted Jeongyeon. Her claws are there, her face contorted into a wolf-like snarl, and grey spats of fur growing at her arms.

The man in scrubs misses, and Jeongyeon disarms him, pushes him into a shelf, far away from the table. “What did you do to her,” she growls, looking just about to tear the man into pieces.

Mina takes this opportunity to sprint towards the table and set Chaeyoung free, from the straps that held her to the table. When Chaeyoung growls, Mina smiles at her. “Relax, I’m a friend,” she soothes. “We’re here to get you.”

 _Where are you?_ Asks Mina.

 _We took the guys to the coast, a few kilometers away from here_ .  _They’re knocked out and won’t remember anything._ Nayeon responds.  _We’ll be back in a jiffy._

 _Stay where you are_ , Mina tells her.

She feels Nayeon’s confusion.  _Why? What’s going on?_

 _We can’t let them find you._ Mina says.  _We can’t lead them to the forest._

Nayeon stays quiet, then thinks.  _Okay. But the moment I feel you and Scooby are in danger, Jihyo and I will come. Got it?_

Mina laughs.  _Sure. Be safe. Stay where you are._

The moment Mina unfastens the last strap on Chaeyoung, several heavy footsteps barge into the shop. Heavy hands find Mina’s shoulders, and her heart drops when an arm goes around her neck and there’s a gun trained to her head.

“Jeongyeon,” she calls, and Jeongyeon looks back - and Mina sees the anger melting into fear, seeing that there are four men, armed, with their guns trained at the both of them.

“Mina,  _no_ ,” The lycan says, then her eyes are filled with anger. The man in scrubs scampers behind the men, to secure Chaeyoung back onto the table. “Let her go, or you’ll regret it.”

One of the men, the one beside Mina, balding with half of his face hidden underneath a handkerchief, sneers, cocking his gun. “We’d like to see you try,” he tells her. The man holding Mina’s neck tightens his grip, and it’s getting harder to breathe by the moment.

When Jeongyeon inhales, intending to shift, but Mina stops her. “Jeongyeon, no—don’t, if they shoot you, it’s worse in your wolf form.”

Another man laughs. “Belle’s right, kid. Listen to her, let us take this mutt and nobody gets hurt. Roll it out,” he tells the man in scrubs who does as he’s told. Chaeyoung’s tired wolf form is wheeled out of the place, and shortly after, is wheeled into the 4x4.

Jeongyeon looks severely conflicted. “Mina,” she pleads, then whimpers when the 4x4 drives away. “Mina, do something, don’t just stand there!”

“Not quite,” the man holding her in a chokehold says, and before Mina could do anything about it, there’s an extremely sharp pain on her leg as a tiny knife finds home in the flesh of her thigh. It’s blinding, and Mina feels like vomiting, and it’s too much to do anything - she doesn’t even have the power to block Nayeon out of her head.

Mina faintly registers Jeongyeon screaming, yelling, but not daring to move because the gun trained to her head makes cold contact with the skin of her temple.

 _Nayeon,_ she screams,  _help me_.

There are sharp gasps from the remaining men, and the disgusting sound of being stabbed in the back. Nayeon laughs, then pushes the daggers deeper into their backs, and Mina feels blood dripping into her shoulder before the three fall backwards with loud thuds.

The adrenaline wears off as soon as Mina can breathe properly, and she falls forward but Jeongyeon and Jihyo catch her before her body can collide with the floor along with everyone else.

“Mina, you’re bleeding so much,” Jeongyeon exclaims, her face back to normal but her cheeks are damp.

Mina finds the strength to push her two hands into the wound, and Jihyo follows suit. “I’m fine.” she says faintly, and winces when the sharp pain makes itself known when Jihyo takes her in her arms, bridal style. She turns to Nayeon. “So much for our no murder plans.”

“Not even a ‘thank you’,” Nayeon rolls her eyes and moves closer to Mina. “Should we go after them? They can’t be far,” Jeongyeon stands, but Mina touches a weak hand to her arm.

“Not you,” Jihyo tells Jeongyeon. “They’re armed too well to handle lycans. I can. They won’t know that I’m following them.” The debilitating pain makes itself known when Jihyo passes Mina to Jeongyeon’s arms, and the angelus looks sorry when Mina winces.

“You guys head back to the cottage and bring Mina to Hyerim,” Nayeon tells them. “Jihyo will follow them, and I’ll…” she looks around to the lifeless bodies around them. “Hide these in a void somewhere and clean up.”

-

“That’s unfortunate,” Hyerim says, not unkindly, bandaging the rest of Mina’s leg. “Though if they wanted to kill her, they would have. The same way they shot you.”

Jeongyeon frowns, then looks away. “I wish they’d taken me, instead.”

Hyerim smiles sadly, then pats Mina’s leg. “The nerves aren’t as damaged as we thought, and everything will be back to normal in the morning if you get rest tonight.”

“Thank you, Hyerim,” Mina says, then takes Jeongyeon’s hand as she stands on one wobbly leg before Jeongyeon sweeps her up bridal style, then leaving the tiny cottage located a few hectares away from Mina’s.  


Jeongyeon is unusually quiet, and it makes Mina slightly uncomfortable; the crunch of the forest underneath Jeongyeon’s shoes and the crickets chirping their only companion.

The silence extends until they reach Mina’s cottage, and Mina doesn’t question it until Jeongyeon stands, quite awkwardly, by her bed.

Laughter bubbles up her throat, and it somehow breaks the tension because Jeongyeon laughs as well. “Sorry,” Jeongyeon apologizes, running her hands through her hair. It’s terribly cute, and charming, and Mina is in a semi-drug induced haze to even stop feeling things now that neither of them are in imminent danger. The laughter bubbles down, and the lycan looks away. “Sorry,” she solemnly says. “I promised to protect you.”

Mina sits up, the dull pain throbbing, but she reaches out to hold Jeongyeon’s hands. “I’m alive because of you, and of Nayeon and Jihyo,” she smiles, then it fades slightly. “ _I’m_ sorry, we almost had Chaeyoung. We’ll find her. Alive.”

The other girl squeezes back. “I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself if something happens to her. I also don’t think I’ll be sleeping tonight after what I saw.”

Mina nods. “I don’t think I can either.” She bites her lip, and before she can stop herself: “Do you want to sleep with me?”

She only realizes what it could mean when Jeongyeon, a fearless lycan, blushes and a deep shade of red. “I mean—do you want to—share…” Mina inhales, and it’s suddenly ten degrees warmer, “... bed.” 

It takes a few moments for Jeongyeon to seemingly remember to respond. “I—yes. I… think it’s best. If we, um, sleep… beside… each other.”

Mina scoots, despite her bad leg, and puts decent space between them when Jeongyeon slides under the covers. The creak breaks the silence, but when they’re settled on the bed, the crickets are their only other companions.

“Okay. Um. Good night.” Jeongyeon says, then turns away on her side to sleep.

“Good night,” she replies. “Sleep well.”

Her brain is as loud as the crickets chirping, her inner voices chanting  _she swore to protect you_ clashing unpleasantly with  _you have a crush on this ridiculously dashing lycan_.

Then, the day’s events catches on to her. Mina promptly falls asleep.

 

She doesn’t know if she’s dreaming, but she hears faint, familiar voices talking.

 _“What is going on here?”_ It’s Nayeon.

 _“I don’t know and I don’t want to know,”_  It’s Jihyo.  _“But we have to wake them up.”_

Mina opens her eyes, moves to stretch, but finds herself tangled in Jeongyeon’s arms. She moves away, quickly, makes space between them (regretfully, as Mina had been  _very_ comfortable) as the other girl slowly begins to wake up.

Mina doesn’t have time to make sense of it before Jihyo crouches until she’s eye level with the two of them. She’s nervous, and she’s scared, and Mina’s heart already drops; Jeongyeon stays very still, and Mina  _feels_ the same fear that Jihyo’s feeling, seven-fold.

“We tracked where they went,” Jihyo tells them. She pauses, then looks them dead in the eye. “They went to this location, a distance away from the city. She’s alive, but…” she exhales. “They took her to an underground, creature fighting ring. And your sister will be their latest addition.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE PLOT THICKENS
> 
> Extended to 5 parts :)


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